Here are pictures almost from the very start. Click here to see the most recent developments on the car.

Click here to see the second page of the Votus archives.

Corvid Creations home page (check out my sculpture & furniture)

Aaron and Dan on October 13, 2004, in Aaron's basement, the birthplace of the Votus. Dan and Aaron custom-made this tabletop to be super-flat, and they precisely marked the tabletop with the layout of the spaceframe.

A side view of the Votus in it's early stages, October 13, 2004. The frame is just being tack-welded until all the parts are in place.

The frame moves to my shop in Washington, DC, where we are seam welding all the joints. It's difficult to see with the dark background, but you can see we added the transmission tunnel and more to the back end of the chassis. Hundreds of welds, but the frame now feels super-strong and roadworthy. Next weekend 12/18/04 we will finish the welding, and the easy part will be done! We have already begun serious work on the rear axle, and the front end work will begin soon as well. Engine fittings have started - see below. The spaceframe currently fits easily in the back of Dan's van for the 1 hr. voyage which will be made a few more times while we finish welding mounting brackets on. Right now it weighs about 100 lbs., completed weight will probably be about 1100 lbs.

The front end of the spaceframe. The engine sits behind, and the radiator and fan mount on the front right here. No suspension brackets or radiator mounts have been fitted yet - that's coming soon.

The rear shock mount and rollbar mount. This will look quite different in the coming weeks! Very exciting!

Test fitting the motor, checking for motor mount options.

1/14/04 - This Wednesday we tacked in the rear shock mounts, so we're able to test hang the rear suspension. Whoohoo! Huge step! We're almost at a rolling chassis! The rear suspension is pretty much done except for the panhard bar, which we'll install once the drivetrain is complete. Although the chassis was 95% welded a few short weeks ago, it now requires many more hours of welding. As we assemble the car, we have to continuously disassemble it to weld everything in place.

Another view of the rear suspension.

The motor in place and a test run of the right front upper A-arm. The upper A-arms are purchased, and the lower ones we're creating out of steel tube and the donor car's lower A-arm. The motor is in place, but a little higher than it should be. Mark and Aaron made the front motor mounts, Dan modified the donor car's tranny mount, and I have the chassis plates for the motor mounts. Now all we have to do is tack them in next Wednesday night. Then all we need is to modify the drive shaft and we have a drivetrain! We're hoping to make some major headway with the front suspension next week as well. We're very close to a rolling chassis! The carbs are new - I'll get more info from Aaron on those soon. It was a fuel-injected engine but we're converting it.

The Votus moves into Dano's garage, and he gets a new buddy - a case of Yuengling Porter.

The rear end, completed and assembled. No panhard bar yet - we'll wait until the driveshaft is installed.

Drilling holes for the motor mounts, putting the rubber bushings in place.

A detail of the same, we're about to put the motor in for the first time! We'll have to take the motor in and out of the frame as we continue assembly. Thankfully we have use of a good engine lift.

That's Brook driving the Votus, Dano in the passenger seat. Unless we make it right-hand drive.

The motor in place!

A detail of the left-side motor mount. The transmission isn't mounted yet, but that will happen by next week. At that point we will work on the driveshaft, and we're already doing serious work on the front suspension. The two parallel chalk marks on the left of the chassis, to the left of the motor mount, are a placement guide for a lower A-arm bracket.

3/20/05

Click here to see the second page of the Votus archives.

Click here to see the most recent photos/developments.

Corvid Creations home page (check out my sculpture & furniture)

Votus -TM. All photos and logos copyright © 2004 & 2005 Brook Halvorson